Beatles negotiations

They're getting really insane. Imagine's launch made billions, but Sony and Wētā are still seeking the billions that they thought a Beatles film series would make for them. Anyway, a faction within Wētā (including some board members), wants to pick Sony over Imagine Multimedia because they don't want to work with Paul. Sony's claims of owning the music rights are overstated. Paul's settlement deal in 2017 was to buy all his songs back in reverse, one year at a time. That's why In My Life was the demo track for our bakeoff: Sony currently controls it. Olivia didn't negotiate buyback rights, but Yoko has. Paul and Yoko completed their negotiations in April. That's what I was referring to earlier. It took ten years, but they fully control the Lennon-McCartney catalogue. - Beatles films aren't like most biographies. Apple Corps controls the use of branding, so even the spelling of the band is something that they've trademarked. They can use Harrison songs and covers, but it'll always look like a knockoff. The real question was whether Peter, Sony or Paul owned the ML of the Beatles. Turns out that Paul and the boys own the inputs: Paul owns 80% of the master recordings. That's how Sir Peter structured it; Wētā owns subsidiary rights, as does Apple Corps. As a result, their plans of knocking us off after seeing Collective Memories were screwed. Only Imagine is able to use the AI/ML tools from Get Back and the Anthology. Our pitch is built around them, while they're scrambling to compete after our demo. - Imagine Multimedia is keen to make the first film in our proposed film series, but the others are conditional upon a successful production that has very few hitches. Edgar's added a fourth film concept, which is a 1965-1967 story about the guys turning from polite teen idols to counterculture heroes. It's getting increasingly timey-wimey, but that's the brand that we've hit upon for IM. Seveneves is our big launch series. Ron's thinking of a six-film limited series. Paul and I are chattering about other sci-fi. Tom Holland has written a treatment of Anathem. We're talking Up The Line, The End of Eternity and The Light Of Other Days. - As for the many exhibitors in the US that bought Beatles films for 2028: IM can deliver! Beatles Invade New Zealand is going to be funded substantially via international presales that Peter and Ant have been working on in Europe and China. Peter Jackson is going to co-direct with Sir Paul. Edgar Wright's doing second unit, but might take over if Peter becomes disillusioned. I'll be a producer, but it's likely to overlap with Taylor's film. Wētā has a substantial Chinese client base. That's another thing that separates us: we're a hit thanks to the international appeal of our approach, and we're not relying upon the US or UK audience to provide all of our revenue. Our goal isn't to please exhibitors: we're planning to set up our own exhibition spaces. This is our proposed Imagine HQ model across the world: Ground floor = Cafe and Imagine Peace Museums. Ideally a cannabis cafe. First few floors = exhibition spaces: galleries, cinemas, theatres. Upper floors = office space. We're going to buy cheap office space instead of competing with the big guns. If it comes off, we'll lease the exhibition spaces to public and private interests. Beatles Invade New Zealand is going to drop in 2028, and possibly the Manila film. We'll have other films that can fill the slots, though. I want to direct Follies with Paul and McGlashan. The adaptation Taylor Swift and I are preparing of Baby Face would be the fourth film. - On a personal note, the crap that these cryptofascists from Disney, Sony and other places have put me through is a gigantic pain in the arse. I've got the cops and Paul's people investigating it. Compared to the Five Eyes, it's slightly tamer, but much more public.